Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4

Nippon Kogaku · Nikon F · 1978 · Internal focusing

our own finding

Also known as: Ai Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 IF · Ai-S Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 IF · AIS Micro Nikkor 200mm F4 · Micro-Nikkor 200mm 1:4 · AF Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D IF-ED · AF Micro Nikkor 200mm f/4 D ED · Nikon Micro 200mm f/4 · マイクロニッコール 200mm F4

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Ai Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 IF · 9 elements in 6 groups, internal focusing Nikon F (Ai) 1978–1982 178021 – 198158 (20,138) — August 1978 to March 1982, the whole run 20,138
Ai-S Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 IF · 9 elements in 6 groups, internal focusing — identical to the Ai Nikon F (Ai-S) 1982–2005 200001 – 220005 (20,005) — February 1982 to 2005, the whole run 20,005
AF Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D IF-ED · 13 elements in 8 groups, two of them ED, with internal focusing and close-range correction Nikon F (AF-D, screw-drive) 1993–2020 200001 – 212588 (12,588) — October 1993 onward
300001 – 300600 (600) — 2005
400001 – 417385 (17,385) — the 2006 numbering scheme, to 2020 		30,573 across the three blocks — arithmetic on Vink's quantities, not a published total¹
  1. Vink's quantity column is, in his own words, "Number of lenses made based on serial numbers collected" — derived from observed serial spans rather than factory records. Sums across blocks are arithmetic performed here and are marked as such.
  2. The two written assessments consulted here disagree about the manual lens. Richard Haw finds it soft below f/8, says it "flares terribly", and reports "quite a bit of distortion" of the pincushion kind — while noting fungus in his own sample that may account for the flare. Pindelski reports best resolution at f/8 with "little change through f/16" and only minor chromatic aberration. Neither tested the other's example, and no controlled comparison has been found.
  3. No designer has been credited for this lens in any source consulted. No tale on it appears in the index of Nikon's Thousand and One Nights consulted here, which is unusual for a Micro-Nikkor: the 5cm, 55mm f/3.5, 55mm f/2.8, 60mm, 105mm f/2.8, 40mm and the 70-180mm zoom all have one.
  4. No list price for any version has been found in the sources consulted, in yen or in dollars.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The longest Micro-Nikkor Nikon made as a prime, and the reason people buy it: at 200mm the lens sits far enough back that it neither frightens an insect nor casts its own shadow on the subject
  • Ai or Ai-S without reading a serial: the Ai has a wide aperture ring and a narrow tripod collar, the Ai-S a narrow aperture ring and a wide collar
  • Manual or autofocus by weight alone: 740g or 800g is manual, 1,190g is the AF-D — and the autofocus lens takes 62mm filters where both manual versions take 52mm
  • Not the Nikkor-Q 200mm f/4, the ordinary telephoto of 1961. That lens has four elements, no close focus and no tripod collar, and listings confuse the two constantly

Ai Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 IF:

  • Wide aperture ring and a narrow tripod collar — the pair of details that separates it from the Ai-S
  • Barrel engraved MADE IN JAPAN, five cross-head mount screws
  • 740g, 172mm from the mount, 67mm across
  • Built-in sliding hood and a detachable tripod collar, on both manual versions

Ai-S Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 IF:

  • Narrow aperture ring and a wide tripod collar — the mirror image of the Ai
  • 800g against the Ai's 740g, and 66mm across against 67mm. The optics are identical
  • Twenty-three years of production for almost exactly the same number of lenses the Ai made in four

AF Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D IF-ED:

  • Reaches 1:1 with no tube; both manual versions stop at 1:2 and need the PN-11
  • 1,190g against the Ai-S's 800g, 193mm long against 172mm, 62mm filter against 52mm
  • Takes the HN-30 hood; the manual versions have a hood built into the barrel
  • 240° of focus travel against 300°

Serial-range notes

104724
One lens, which Vink records as a prototype and dates to no year. It sits some 73,000 numbers below the production block and is the only pre-production example on his list.
200001 – 212588
The autofocus block opens at the same number as the Ai-S block and runs 12,588 lenses into it. A 200mm f/4 Micro numbered between 200001 and 212588 can be either version, and the serial does not say which — the tripod collar and the filter size do.
400001 onward
Nikon's 2006 renumbering. An autofocus 200mm Micro with a 4xxxxx serial was built in 2006 or later, in what turned out to be the largest of its three blocks.

Specifications

Formula
Internal focusing
Construction
9 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/4–f/32
Diaphragm blades
9
Min. focus
0.71 m
Dimensions
67 × 172 mm
Weight
740 g
Filter
52 mm
Years manufactured
1978–2020
Country
Japan
Coating
Nikon Integrated Coating; no coating change is recorded in the sources consulted

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
visible wide open
Flare & ghosting
poor resistance
Distortion
pincushion, contested

History

Every other Micro-Nikkor is a lens you put close to something. This one is a lens you keep away from it. At 200mm and 1:2 the front element sits most of a metre from the subject, which is far enough that a photographer is not leaning into the light, not throwing a shadow across the frame, and not standing where a dragonfly can see them. That is the entire argument for the lens, and it was strong enough to keep the manual-focus version in production for twenty-seven years.

It arrived in August 1978 as the first Micro-Nikkor with internal focusing, nine elements in six groups, with a sliding hood built into the barrel and a detachable tripod collar. Internal focusing on a macro lens is not the convenience it is on a telephoto: a lens that grows as it focuses spends the working distance an extension tube was bought to buy, and at high magnification there is not much to spend. Richard Haw, who rates the lens middling optically, is unequivocal that this is the feature that matters.

The Ai ran to March 1982 and 20,138 lenses. The Ai-S that replaced it is the same optical system in a barrel with a narrow aperture ring and a wide tripod collar — the Ai has them the other way round — and it ran to 2005 and 20,005 lenses. Twenty-three years to make what the first version made in four: this was never a volume product, and the two manual versions together account for about 40,000 lenses, which is about a thirteenth of what the 55mm f/2.8 managed.

The autofocus version of October 1993 is a different lens. Thirteen elements in eight groups with two ED elements, close-range correction added to the internal focusing, life size without a tube, and 1,190g on the tripod collar where the Ai-S weighed 800g. Its serial numbers open at 200001, exactly where the Ai-S block opens, and run 12,588 into it — so a bare serial between 200001 and 212588 does not identify the version, and the filter thread does: 52mm on the manual lenses, 62mm on the autofocus one.

Two silences are worth recording. Nobody has published a designer for this lens; the index of Nikon’s Thousand and One Nights consulted here carries tales on the 5cm, the 55mm f/3.5, the 55mm f/2.8, the 60mm, the 105mm f/2.8, the 40mm and even the 70–180mm zoom, and none on the 200mm. And the two written assessments consulted here do not agree about how it performs: Haw finds visible pincushion distortion and softness below f/8, Pindelski finds best resolution at f/8 and little change through f/16, and neither has tested the other’s example.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $200 across 51 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $150–$690). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $200.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$200$150–$69051
2026-09-06$200$150–$69050

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 · Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 · Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5

Sources (3)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.